κλῖμαξ Ancient Greek · revision 2286

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Homer, Odyssey|origins=ine-pro *ḱley-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /klîː.maks/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈkli.maks/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈkli.maks/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''κλῖμᾰξ''' (klîmax) ''f'' (genitive κλῑ́μᾰκος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is derived from [[κλίνω|tr=klī́nō|t=to lean]], since a ladder leans aslant.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) The ῑ is taken over from κλίνω in place of the expected ει of an older *κλεῖ-μα.^(Beekes 2010) κλίνω continues [[ine-pro|*ḱley-|t=to lean]], the root of [[la|clīnāre]] and [[ang|hleonian|alt=hlinian|t=to lean]].^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ From it came κλιμακτήρ “rung of a ladder”, and later “critical point in a man's life”, the source of English [[m|en|climacteric]].^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Odyssey'' it is the stair by which one goes down from the upper rooms of a house.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Archilochus and the tragedians use it for a ladder, and above all the scaling-ladder of a siege.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940) Thucydides describes ladders set against a city wall.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940) Euripides uses it for a ship's gangway and, figuratively, for a ladder up to prosperity.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940) In Aristophanes it is the rack on which slaves were bound for torture, in Hippocrates a ladder for setting dislocations, and in Sophocles a wrestling hold.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ The rhetoricians (Demetrius, Longinus) gave it the sense of a figure that rises step by step, which Latin took over as [[m|la|clīmax]], the source of English [[m|en|climax]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Wiktionary) The learned [[el|κλίμακα|tr=klímaka]] means “ladder, scale”.^(Wiktionary)^(Πάπυρος)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – the ''Odyssey'' uses it for the staircase of a house.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it for a ladder.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Thucydides describes scaling-ladders, and Sophocles uses it for a wrestling hold.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for the rack used in torture.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * Hellenistic and Roman period – the rhetoricians use it for the figure of gradation.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|ladder]], especially a scaling-ladder; a ship's [[m|en|gangway]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A [[m|en|staircase]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A ladder-shaped frame on which people were tied for [[m|en|torture]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(medicine)'' A ladder used to reduce dislocations.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(wrestling)'' A hold in which the opponent is gripped from behind.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' [[m|en|climax]], gradation.^(LSJ 1940)^(Bailly 2020)

+ # ''(plural)'' The handrails of a bridge.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[κλιμακτήρ|tr=klīmaktḗr]]

+ * [[κλιμάκιον|tr=klimákion]]

+ * [[κλιμακίζω|tr=klimakízō]]

+ * [[κλιμακωτός|tr=klimakōtós]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[κλίνω|tr=klī́nō]]

+ * [[κλίμα|tr=klíma]]

+ * [[la|climax|alt=clīmax]]

+ * [[en|climax]]

+ * [[en|climacteric]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}